The ice in Nashville is ready as the Tampa Bay Lightning are ready to play their first NHL game outside Saturday night. Nissan Stadium looks pretty cool… but rain and temperatures in the 60s this week looked to be a problem. But the NHL says they’ve got things under control and conditions will be fine by game time. They’ve got a 53 foot long refrigeration unit custom-built for weather like this. There are 243 “ice pans” under the rink and a 300 ton capacity refrigeration trailer.
6 Tampa Bay Lightning players have played outside before: Ryan McDonagh (4 GP), Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (3 GP), Corey Perry (1-0-1 in 2 GP), Pat Maroon (2 GP), Zach Bogosian (1 GP) and Fredrik Claesson (1 GP). Lightning goaltender Brian Elliott appeared for the Flyers in the 2019 NHL Stadium Series at Lincoln Financial Field and in their 2021 NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe game.
Fans who couldn’t make it to Nashville catch take part in a watch party inside Amalie Arena Saturday night. Tickets are free and can be claimed on the Bolts website. The game will be televised on TNT.